New Orleans Part 1: Mardi Gras: Krewes d'Etat et de Morpheus, around New Orleans

After a few days driving west through yet another unexpected cold spell for the south, we made it to New Orleans where we planned to meet up with a friend from New York who had moved down here a few years back. We got stuck in downtown traffic for an hour or two before we gave up trying to find parking and then went near our friend's Neighborhood. Once we got to his house, we met his housemates and immediately went off to our first Mardi Gras Parade. We walked down Decatur, which was filled with great jazz clubs, bars, and coffee houses, until we hit Canal Street and the parade route. The streets were filled with revelers, reveling in the lax open carry (of alcohol) laws and generally enjoying themselves. Our gracious hosts knew half of the people on the street so we stopped often to chat. We had a great time that night, as is evidenced in the following pictures:

Still early on in the night, my neck was still visible under the beads.

A bit later on, I was already starting to be choked by my lavalliere.

I hadn't seen Atillio in 3 or 4 years so we shared a nice re-acquaintance hug.

This was my final tally at the end of the night. I'm not sure quite how I ended up with so many, but I know that I had the most of anyone I saw! It might disappoint some of you to know that I saw exactly no bosoms that night.

The next morning we hung out in the yard with the dogs, Deidre and MacGyver. MacGyver is a 10 year old black lab, who reminds Jim and Me of my grandma's dog Skipper in every way, even age, except that Skipper is Yellow. He almost never plays but the gave in that day to play with a ball we caught during the parade. The other dog is Atillio's sweet Staffordshire Terrier.

During the day, one of the housemates Monkey showed us around town. We met up with his friend Kelly who owned this Art Car. This one used to be more extravagant but he is in the middle of redoing it. He used to have a hearse that was also decorated. Parked on Decatur Street.

One of the houses' chickens. She is currently laying eggs!

When we got back to the house, we all (about 8 of us) sat down to watch a movie (The Producers) in the living room. The dogs piled on as well...
and another picture of Deidre. She is a sweetheart and one of the friendliest dogs I know. She licked Jim's face for 5 minutes straight before he remembered his allergies.

Coming up: Krewe d'Eris, Lower 9, and Texas

Mexico Part 3: Tulum and Playa again

For my last Blog post about Mexico, here are some assorted pictures from Tulum and Playa del Carmen. We spent the last week or so lounging on the beach, reading and frolicking in the waves. For two nights, we moved over to Cabanas Copal which is fancier than Papaya Playa and has a spa and, a couple nights a week, a Mayan Ritual called a Temazcal which is a 2+ hour long sweat lodge ceremony where we inhale and chant and generally meditate and sweat. That was a really great, spiritual experience despite the touristy intention of it.

On the beach, there were some really creative and talented people who made some cool sand scupltures:

Here is the view from our Cabana at Papaya Playa:

This tiny translucent crab waddled across the sand intimidatingly.

At Cabanas Copal, there were two beggar cats at every meal. The big one was blind and slow but sweet and the little one was wily and greedy.

A few days before in Playa, we ate at a mostly-vegetarian and all-healthy restaurant called 100% Natural. To show how health-conscious they were, they filled their fountain with fruit. The food was great. Instead of chips and salsa they served whole wheat bread with salsa and sour cream and chives.

The night before, I decided to bite the bullet and risk some street food. I was glad I did, because the tacos were awesome. Definitely the best mexican food I had down there!

A tiny scruffy kitten that lived near our hotel

And finally, a real live Mexican Mariachi Band roaming the streets of Playa.

Right now we are in New Orleans experiencing Mardi Gras first hand. We've already gone to a parade and toured the lower 9. More adventures to come!
Here is a taste:

Tulum, Mexico: We found our Paradise. (days 4-7)

After a hectic few days arriving in Cancun, getting enough cash to subsist for a few days, finding lodging in Playa del Carmen, and diving, we headed south on the ADO in search of a place where we felt at home. We were hoping to find somewhere to camp on the beach, but Tulum town, where the bus dropped us off, is quite far from the beach. We found an ad for a cheap hostel near the Tulum Ruins (which we haven´t seen yet) so we took a cab there and dumped our heavy backpack. We made a system where we keep the camping supplies and clothes in the big bag and then carry all of our valuables with us wherever we go, so we took all of our cameras, ereaders, DS-es chargers, et cetera on two free bikes from our hostel. We went in search of a rumoured Subway (Jim´s favorite fast food). We missed it on the first pass and instead rode past the ruins and down onto the beach road which is lined with hotels.
On the way we saw a few cool critters such as a lovely iguana basking in the sunbaked road:

We spent the night at Hostel Los Lobos and the next day headed towards the beach. We had scoped out a few place the day before, and chose Papaya Playa because they allowed camping on the beach, and because it was right next to Cabanas Copal which was our first choice but didn´t allow camping and was all booked up. It had a pretty nice vibe and we were very happy to get down to the beach. One of the big draws of Tulum for us was that it was supposedly a nude beach and, as we discovered over the summer, we love swimming naked! It´s very liberating and refreshing. So once we set up our tent, we dove right in.
While swimming was heavenly, it turns out camping on the sand is not very comfortable (and very sandy.) After a few hours of swimming and deliberating, we decided to rent a cabana for the night. It was definitely worth the extra $16 to have a comfy bed, complete with mosquito net, that we didn´t have to share with our luggage. The added peace of mind that comes with a lock on the door helped, too. At this point we are out of cash again so we are going back to Playa del Carmen to wait for our PIN so we can spend a carefree week or so on the beach in Tulum.
Enjoy some of these pictures from Papaya Playa!

A Florida Christmas

Well, it's December 31st and an amazing year is coming to an end. We've been living in our van for 6 months and loving it. I finished my last semester of college with an almost 3.0 cumulative GPA. We left New York for a long-term trip across country and we're so happy to be back on the road and out of the cold. We found a few WWOOFs (http://www.wwoofusa.org/meet)that we want to spend time at, and we can't wait to experience the country and meet some new people. Right now we're at my Grandma's house in Tampa, FL and the days are flying by.
Here are some pictures from Christmas and around Florida.

My Grandma has a tiny yet beautifully decorated Christmas tree.

A beautiful Kurta from my mom's trip to India.

Christmas Night, we made and decorated a Gingerbread House

After a quick photosession...

it was promptly devoured

No one spared the destruction...

even Celeste joined in.

After the Gingerbread Disaster of Christmas '09, Jim and I went to my Aunt Debby's house and discovered that we want to be Pet Photographers.

Paji the African Grey who can duplicate Debby's voice exactly. I thought it was a bit strange when we were talking to her in the living room and heard her say from the bedroom "Wanna take a shower?"

Calypso, AKA Little Man who, of course, thinks he owns the place.

My Grandma's dog Skipper who gives Kuzya a run for his money in the race for World's Sweetest Dog.

The beautiful Husky Cherokee who loves nose kisses. That is, your nose.

And my aunt's newest addition, a Chinchilla named Pacino. He's so soft and sparkly after his dust bath.

Jim hasn't been having too many allergic reactions to these dogs, so he got in on the fun:

Later on, I went to the beach where there was a kite surfer riding the wind.

And finally, I got a new hairstyle for the new year and our new life.

Look out for our: Snowdrift Adventure and Photographin' the moon.

Prarie Dog Town and Kansas Plains

Hello, faithful readers. Here is a long-awaited post of our adventures through Kansas!
We saw signs along the highway for "World's Largest Prairie Dog! Prairie Dog Town! 6-Legged Cows! Pet Baby Pigs! 50 Miles Ahead!" and followed them to a wonderfully cheesy roadside attraction/zoo. They had animals not commonly found in zoos, like raccoons and badgers, as well as lots of stuffed (as in taxidermied) animals, farm animals, and prairie dogs running free.

They had a stuffed Jackelope. I haven't seen one in the wild yet, but this is my bigfoot.

A pile of piglets! They were too small to play with, unfortunately. There was also one that was slightly out of place, with deer-colored fur and stripes!

These adorable coyotes were fiends for dog biscuits. Go Figure!

The obligatory goat shot. We probably fed them the most. We're suckers for goats, especially floppy-eared goats.

Prairie Dogs were peeping up all over the place

A very shy bobcat who kept hissing at us.

Sleepy foxes

Sleepy Badgers

The softest Donkey Face ever. He kept following us around looking for more treats. He liked dog biscuits, too!

Kansas had wild sunflowers growing all over the place. This bee decided to take advantage.

Here is the World's Largest Prairie Dog. It wasn't real at all!

A very pointy steer.

The prize of the place, a six legged cow. It kind of looks like a baby stuck in there.

And its neighbor, the five legged cow.

Finally, a nice shot of the plains of Kansas. It was the first state back in the midwest, so it was quite a sight to see after so many weeks of cliffs, canyons, oceans and mountains.

We didn't get a chance to go to the Wizard of Oz museum, but after playing the slots in Vegas I sure had a hankering.